Umar Khalid tells NIA he heard BJP-RSS men attacked visitors

Student leader Umar Khalid – who was one of the speakers at the Elgar Parishad event in 2017 – has told the National Investigation Agency (NIA) he had heard that BJP-RSS persons attacked visitors to Bhima Koregaon on the day following the event. Khalid has been cited as a witness in the Bhima-Koregaon case

Khalid, who is presently in custody in the Delhi riots case, said this in his statement recorded by the agency in February last year. The NIA has claimed that provocative speeches were made by the speakers at the conclave held on Dec 31, 2017, which incited the riots the following day on January 1, 2018, leading to the death of one person and injuries to five. The conclave was organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Koregaon Bhima in which the Peshwas suffered a defeat at the hands of the

British army which comprised mainly of Dalits. The day was seen as a win of the Dalits over the Peshwas.

Contradictory to the narrative of the agency, but in line with Khalid’s statement, two FIRs filed by Dalit activists soon after the violence had broken out, had named Hindutva leader Milind Ekbote as a conspirator of the violence. He had been booked for conspiracy, attempt to murder and unlawful assembly and is alleged to have instigated upper-caste Hindus against the event. The activist’s statement forms part of seven volumes of additional documents the agency has filed recently before the court and is among 27 witnesses whose statements the NIA has recorded.

Among the additional evidence submitted to the court is also a letter by the agency to the Kalina Forensic Science

Laboratory. In the letter, the NIA has sought comments from the laboratory on the US-based digital forensic firm Arsenal Consulting’s report, commonly known as the Arsenal Report. The report had concluded that the laptop of Rona Wilson, an accused in the case, had been compromised by a malware attack and incriminating material had been planted into it.

The documents also contain a program schedule of a legal workshop conducted by the Persecuted Prisoners Solidarity Committee (PPSC), which the NIA claims is a frontal organisation of the CPI (Maoist). Stan Swamy (no more), Sudha Bharadwaj and Surendra Gadling – all accused in the case – are shown to have participated in the workshop. While the former two were scheduled to introduce the workshop, Gadling was scheduled to hold a discussion on the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).